A new study from the University of Chicago has found that couples who meet online have happier and longer marriages than those who meet otherwise.
The new study shows an association between online couples and long-lasting marriages based on the results of a survey of 19,131 people who answered questionnaires about their marriages and satisfaction. Although the results of the study demonstrate long marriages among online couples, it does not give any concrete reasons for the cause.
"These data suggest that the Internet may be altering the dynamics and outcomes of marriage itself," study's lead author, John Cacioppo, the Tiffany and Margaret Blake Distinguished Service Professor in Psychology at the University of Chicago, said in a press release.
With increased number of social networking sites and other primary sources of communication via Internet, online dating has become the most popular way to meet the right partner. The study results showed that couples who met online were more satisfied than those couples who met in person. Marital break ups were also relatively low among the online couples comparatively.
According to the study, more than one third of the marriages between 2005 and 2012 started online. Married couples who met online had about 6 percent marital break-ups while couples who met offline had 7.6 percent marital break-ups. Based on the survey, online couples scored a mean of 5.64 on marital satisfaction and offline couples scored 5.48 .
Most of the online couples said that they met through online dating sites, which accounted for 45 percent of overall online couples. People who met offline said they met their spouses at work, schools, churches, social gatherings, clubs and bars and places of worship. Of all places, people who met in bars reported maximum marital break-ups.
"Marital outcomes are influenced by a variety of factors. Where one meets their spouse is only one contributing factor, and the effects of where one meets one's spouse are understandably quite small and do not hold for everyone," Cacioppo said. "The results of this study are nevertheless encouraging, given the paradigm shift in terms of how Americans are meeting their spouses."
The findings of the study are published in the current issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
